Production of Materials > 3. Renewable Ethanol >
Process information from secondary sources such as molecular model kits, digital technologies or computer simulations to model:
- the addition of water to ethylene
- the dehydration of ethanol
- The hydration of ethylene can be modelled by the following process:
- Use molecular model kits to construct an ethylene molecule, a sulfuric acid molecule and a water molecule.
- Break open the double bond of the ethylene molecule and add a hydrogen atom from the sulfuric acid to one carbon atom, and the HSO4 group to the other carbon atom, forming the molecule CH3CH2HSO4.
- Break the water molecule into a hydroxy group and a hydrogen atom.
- Replace the HSO4 group in the CH3CH2HSO4 molecule with the hydroxy group.
- Combine the HSO4 group with the hydrogen atom from the water to reform the sulfuric acid molecule.
- The dehydration of ethanol can be modelled by simply reversing the above process